Elon University’s Women’s and Gender Studies and NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina cohosted a screening of “12th and Delaware,” an HBO documentary about abortion rights that takes place in Fort Pierce, Fla., Feb. 6 in LaRose Digital Theatre.
On one corner in Fort Pierce, there is an abortion clinic. On the other corner is the Pregnancy Care Center with its pro-life staff dedicated to convincing abortion seekers otherwise.
Though many have heard about abortion clinics and the protests against them, crisis pregnancy centers seem to be significantly less popular. These centers usually offer free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds and persuade women against abortion.
“12th and Delaware” revealed many problems with these centers, which are typically run by pro-life groups, such as providing inaccurate medical information and lying to pregnant women about how far along they are.
“The documentary does a really good job of showing the types of practices at crisis pregnancy centers and regardless of where you stand on the issue, seeing people lying about health is a problem,” said Hillary Waugh Bruce, deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, the political grassroots arm of the pro-choice movement in North Carolina and a state affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“We want to raise awareness of crisis pregnancy centers and get women to make the best decision on their own,” Bruce said.
NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina released a report on North Carolina’s crisis pregnancy centers in 2011. The report revealed there are 122 crisis pregnancy centers and fewer than 30 abortion providers in North Carolina. The centers are frequently staffed by unpaid volunteers with no medical or counseling training, some of whom administer and interpret medical tests such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests.
Both the documentary and NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina research agreed crisis pregnancy centers incorrectly report abortion leads to breast cancer. Of the 66 crisis pregnancy centers researched, 17 stated that information as fact.
“We always look for opportunities to partner with organizations and groups to help bring the campus community and local community together,” said Amanda Gallagher, coordinator of the Women’s and Genders Studies program and an associate professor in the School of Communications. “We see this as part of our mission to help to further engaged learning at Elon and foster connections with our greater community.”
The Women’s and Gender Studies program is an interdisciplinary minor offered at Elon. In addition to sponsoring film screenings, the program hosts panels and speakers and participates in campus events such as Take Back the Night.